Network assisted bonding

ABSTRACT

A device is provided for facilitating a media transmission over a wireless network. The device may control and manage a plurality of first wireless modems on a first end node side. The plurality of first wireless modems may be configured to transmit/receive a plurality of data streams over a plurality of wireless data channels to/from at least one second wireless modem on a second end node side. The device may receive network-related information from a network component associated with the wireless network. The network-related information may be used to adjust the distribution or receipt of the plurality of data streams between the plurality of first wireless modems, thereby enabling reconstitution of the media transmission from the plurality of data streams. In addition, the device may be configured to send performance-related information to the network component, thereby enabling a determination to be made about managing network resources of the wireless network.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/292,234,filed May 30, 2014, which claims the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 61/829,389, filed May 31, 2013, all of which areincorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure generally relates to devices and methods forfacilitating a media transmission stream. More particularly, thisdisclosure relates to devices and methods for transmitting and receivingthe media transmission stream via a plurality of parallel data channels.

BACKGROUND

A bonding device is a device that uses multiple modems to carry a singledata stream. Some bonding devices can split a single data stream andtransmit a plurality of data streams via a plurality of paths in theuplink. For example, a bonding device may transmit media stream (videoand audio) gathered by a camera at live events, such as breaking newsevents, sports, entertainment, social events, etc., to a receivingserver that reassembles the data streams. Examples of such bondingdevices are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,948,933, and in PCT PatentApplication No. WO 2013/171648, both of which are incorporated herein byreference in their entirety.

Bonding devices may also be used to receive a plurality of data streamsfrom a plurality of paths in the downlink and reassemble them. Forexample, a bonding device such as a smartphone or tablet may be used forreceiving a stream of media (e.g., a live stream or a downloaded video).When downloading media using multiple wireless connections the end-userdevice may have better availability than if using a single wirelessconnection. In some cases the bonding devices may use more than onecommunications network to carry the single data stream. For example,bonding devices may use multiple modems in one or more cellularnetworks, WiFi networks, and/or satellite networks. The presentdisclosure describes how both the bonding devices and the communicationnetworks may benefit from the exchange of information used for managingthe transmission resources.

SUMMARY

Some embodiments of the disclosure include a method and a communicationsdevice configured to facilitate a media transmission over at least onewireless communications network. The communications device may includeat least one processor configured to control a plurality of firstwireless modems associated with a first end node side of the at leastone wireless communications network, and to communicate via a pluralityof parallel wireless data channels with at least one second wirelessmodem associated with a second end node side of the at least onewireless communications network. The at least one processor can manageat least one of distribution and receipt of a plurality of data streamssplit over the plurality of parallel wireless data channels, wherein themedia transmission comprises an aggregate of the plurality of datastreams. In addition, upon receiving network-related information from anetwork component associated with, or informative about, the at leastone wireless communications network, the at least one processor can usethe received network-related information to adjust at least one ofdistribution and receipt of the plurality of data streams between theplurality of first wireless modems, thereby enabling reconstitution ofthe media transmission from the plurality of data streams. Using thenetwork-related information may enable media transmission in a moreefficient way, allowing more effective QoS, lowering costs, conservingnetwork resources (such as power and bandwidth), and improving overallresource utilization, including by other users of the network ornetworks.

Other embodiments of the disclosure include a method and acommunications device configured to assist managing at least onewireless communications network. The communications device may includeat least one processor configured to control a plurality of firstwireless modems associated with a first end node side of the at leastone wireless communications network, and to communicate via a pluralityof parallel wireless data channels with at least one second wirelessmodem associated with a second end node side of the at least onewireless communications network. The at least one processor can manageat least one of distribution and receipt of a plurality of data streamsover the plurality of parallel data channels, wherein the mediatransmission comprises an aggregate of the plurality of data streams. Inaddition, the at least one processor can cause performance-relatedinformation to be sent to a network component located intermediate (thefirst end node and the second end node, and from the first end node andthe second end node. By doing so, the communications device enables adecision and determination to be made about managing network resourcesof the at least one wireless communications network, wherein thedetermination is based on the performance-related information.

Additional embodiments of the disclosure include a method and a networkdevice configured to facilitate a media transmission over at least onewireless communications network. The network device may include anetwork component located intermediate a first end node on a mediatransmission side of the at least one wireless communications networkand a second end node on a media reception side of the at least onewireless communications network. In some cases the media transmissionside includes a plurality of first wireless modems and the mediareception side includes at least one second wireless modem. As a result,the at least one wireless communications network includes a plurality ofparallel wireless data channels extending between and connecting theplurality of first wireless modems with the at least one second wirelessmodem. The network component may include at least one processorconfigured to retrieve network-related information from the at least onewireless communications network and transmit the network-relatedinformation to the media transmission side, in order to cause aredistribution of a plurality of data streams handled by at least someof the plurality of first wireless modems.

Other aspects of the disclosure are set forth in the description whichfollows and are included in the appended claims, the entirety of whichis incorporated into this Summary by reference.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the disclosure, reference is nowmade to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is flow chart presenting an overview of an exemplary methodaccording to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of the communication paths betweentwo bonding devices according to a first embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of the communication paths betweentwo bonding devices according to a second embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of the communication paths betweentwo bonding devices according to a second embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 5 is flow chart illustrating an overview of an exemplary methodaccording to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is flow chart presenting an overview of an exemplary methodaccording to different embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of an exemplary method of a user deviceattempting to connect with a bonding client in a cellular network.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings.Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawingsand the following description to refer to the same or similar elements.While several illustrative embodiments are described herein,modifications, adaptations and other implementations are possible. Thespecific details in the described embodiments and exemplary apparatusesare set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of theembodiments and the exemplary apparatuses. It should be apparent,however, that not all details are required in all embodiments of theinvention. Accordingly, the following detailed description is notlimited to the disclosed embodiments and examples. Instead, the properscope is defined by the appended claims.

Disclosed embodiments may provide several communications devices, forexample, a bonding device that can transmit (or receive) a single datastream via a plurality of wireless data channels over at least onewireless network whereas the stream is split over the connections andreassembled into a single coherent data stream at the receiving side.The bonding device may receive network-related information from the atleast one wireless network, and use the received network-relatedinformation to adjust the transmission (or receipt) of parts of thesingle data stream between multiple connections. The network-relatedinformation may help the bonding device to use the connections in anefficient manner, such as by not transmitting over connectionsassociated with a network where a handover is expected to be performed.In addition, reducing the load of some connections may reduce lostpackets and retransmissions in the case of some network-reportedinterference, congestion, degradation, or other problem.

FIG. 1 is flow chart illustrating an overview of the exemplary methodfor facilitating a media transmission over at least one communicationsnetwork, according to some embodiments of the disclosure. In step 110, aplurality of first wireless modems are provided on a first end node sideof the at least one communications network. The plurality of firstwireless modems may communicate via a plurality of parallel wirelessdata channels with at least one second wireless modem associated with asecond end node side of the at least one communications network. Step120 includes managing at least one of distribution and receipt of aplurality of discrete data streams over the plurality of parallel datachannels. The media transmission, which may be transmitted or receivedby the bonding device, may comprise an aggregate, or bonding, of theplurality of discrete data streams. In step 130, network-relatedinformation is received from a network component associated with the atleast one wireless network. In step 140, the received network-relatedinformation is used to adjust, between the plurality of first wirelessmodems, the distribution or receipt of the plurality of discrete datastreams, thereby enabling reconstitution of the media transmission fromthe plurality of discrete data streams.

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of the communication paths between afirst bonding device 210 and a second bonding device 290, consistentwith disclosed embodiments. Although FIG. 2 is symmetrical with regardto the communication paths between first bonding device 210 and secondbonding device 290, the “symmetrical” elements should not bemisinterpreted as mandatory. For example, first bonding device 210 maybe using ten modems of networks A, B and C; whereas, second bondingdevice 290 may be using only two modems of networks A and X.

As discussed above, a bonding device is a device that uses multiplemodems to carry a single data stream. The term “bonding device” alsoreferred to herein as “end-user” or as “end node,” includes a devicewith transmitting capabilities, receiving capabilities, or both. Abonding device may be a dedicated bonding device or a general purposedevice running a bonding software (e.g., a smartphone, a tablet, acellular modem or terminal, a WiFi modem or terminal, a satellite modemor terminal, an MW modem or terminal, a COFDM modem or terminal, aMifi-sort of device, a chipset running cellular protocols, a computer, acommunication device, etc.). In some examples the bonding device may bea live media transmitter (e.g., first bonding device 210) configured tosimultaneously use multiple modems to broadcast a live media stream. Inother examples the bonding device may be a media receiver (e.g., secondbonding device 290) configured to simultaneously receive from multiplewireless modems a plurality of data packets and reassemble them to asingle coherent media stream.

In some cases, the bonding device may use the multiple modems tosimultaneously deliver the media stream. However, the transmission ofthe media stream may be non-simultaneous or near-simultaneous, becausethe exact moment that the media stream is relayed (transmitted orreceived) is not under the bonding software layer control. The exacttiming of transmission is controlled by the actual modems and theirassociated networks. Therefore, the term “simultaneously” indicates thatmultiple parallel data channels are open for relaying data via differentmodems at the same time, not that the different modems are necessarilytransmitting data at the same time. The actual data transmission may ormay not occur at precisely the same time via the different modems.

For the sake of simplicity, the example discussed below assumes thatfirst bonding device 210 transmits a media stream via a plurality ofparallel wireless data channels to second bonding device 290. Inaddition or alternatively, first bonding device 210 may receive datastreams from second bonding device 290.

In this example, first bonding device 210 may be a dedicatedtransmitting unit retrieving from a video camera or external encoder araw data stream. Second bonding device 290 may be a server belonging toa broadcast company, which reassembles the received separated datastreams and outputs a coherent data stream 299 to be distributed toviewers. The term “raw data stream” refers to any data stream that canbe split and delivered via a plurality of parallel wireless datachannels. The term “coherent data stream” refers to a group of datapackets that together can be comprehended or that resemble the raw datastream before its split. For example, a data stream may be “coherent” ifthe data was transmitted in the plurality of data streams and thenreassembled in a manner it can be comprehended and consumed bynon-bonding devices or software awaiting it. In the case of mediatransmission, the result of this assembly or reconstruction is acoherent media stream (in this example, video and audio) that can beviewed, processed, or otherwise manipulated.

The bonding device can manage the distribution (or receipt) of aplurality of data streams. The term “plurality of data streams” as usedherein refers to a plurality of substreams that together make up atleast a part of a larger data stream. On the transmitting side, theplurality of data streams may include multiple data packets created froma raw data stream by a bonding device or bonding software. The pluralityof data streams may be created discrete from each other and incorrelation to the current availability of the plurality of connectionsor modems or networks associated with the bonding device. On thedestination side, the plurality of data streams may be received (in partor in full), and then processed to create coherent media stream 299. Thefirst bonding device 110 can manage the distribution of a plurality ofdiscrete data streams over the plurality of parallel wireless datachannels to transmit substantially any sort of data. The large bandwidthafforded by bonding multiple channels is particularly useful inhigh-speed media streaming.

For example, first bonding device 210 can split any raw data stream(e.g., a media stream) to a plurality of discrete data streams or packetstreams that can be encapsulated according to any IP protocol. Forexample, the IP protocol may be IPV4, IPV6, a future version, or any mixof them. The encapsulated plurality of data streams may be transmittedover the Internet to second bonding device 290. Second bonding device290 may manage the receipt of the plurality of discrete data streams toenable assembly of the media stream, and request retransmissions ofmissed or erroneously received packets. Although the Internet is shownin FIG. 2 as a single entity, in practice the network associated withthe Internet typically includes components of multiple interconnectednetworks.

In some embodiments, first bonding device 210 may receive a raw mediastream from a computing device 207 (e.g., laptop, tablet, smartphone,desktop computer or router, etc.) over wireless connection, such as,WiFi, Bluetooth, Wireless USB, Wireless High-Definition Multimediainterface (WHDMI), Coded Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing(COFDM). Alternatively, first bonding device 210 may receive the rawmedia stream from a capturing device 203 (e.g., video camera) over awired connection, such as HDMI connection, serial digital interface(SDI) connection, a standard camera connection, a USB connection, aproprietary connection, an Ethernet connection. In addition, firstbonding device 210 may acquire the media stream from one or more sources(e.g., capturing device 203 and/or computing device 207).

In some embodiments, second bonding device 290 may be associated with avirtual bonding receiver that can be co-located next to various networkdevices (not shown in the figure). For example, the virtual bondingreceiver may reside next to or within a base station. Second bondingdevice 290 (or the virtual bonding receiver) may receive and analyze thedata streams originating from modems associated with first bondingdevice 210. Second bonding device 290 (or the virtual bonding receiver)may take real-time application-level measurements for use in improvingor optimizing performance. Such optimization may include optimization ofthe bandwidth and/or other output characteristics of the video encoderfeeding first bonding device 210. For example, if a downlink bondedtransmission is performed and second bonding device 210 detects that oneof the modems associated with first bonding device 210 has a high errorrate, second bonding device 210 may report it to first bonding device210, which may decide to change the distribution of the substreamsaccordingly.

The bonding device (e.g., first bonding device 210 or second bondingdevice 290) may be implemented as a single unit that integrates all orsome of the modems that it uses. Additionally or alternatively, thebonding device may be connected to any number of modems externally, viawires or wirelessly. As used herein, the term “modem” includes anydevice capable of transmitting signals (e.g., a transmitter), receivingsignals (e.g., a receiver), or both (e.g., a transceiver). A modem mayhandle at least the communication at the 1^(st) layer (e.g., PHY) and atthe 2^(nd) layer (e.g., MAC, RLC). The bonding device may controldifferent types of modems, for example, a cellular modem, a cellular USB“dongle,” a satellite terminal, a satellite phone, a cellularsmartphone, a cellular tablet, a MiFi Access Point, a Software DefinedRadio (SDR) device, a COFDM transceiver, a WiFi module, a cable modem, aproprietary modem, and a processor implementing any of the above. Whilethis disclosure is not limited to any particular modem or communicationsprotocol, embodiments of the disclosure may employ a modem that uses oneor more of the following exemplary communication standards: GSM, GPRS,HSPA, Edge, LTE, LTE Advanced, HSPA, CDMA, CDMA Rev A, CDMA Rev B,Wimax, WiFi, Bluetooth, COFDM, Wibro, Satellite BGAN, and satelliteVSAT. In addition, embodiments of the disclosure may employ modems thatuse other known or future wireless protocols.

In some embodiments the bonding device includes at least one processor.In the embodiment of FIG. 2, for example, first bonding device 210includes processor 212, and second bonding device 290 includes processor292. The term “processor” as used herein refers to any physical devicehaving an electric circuit that performs a logic operation on an inputor inputs. For example, each of processors 212 and 292 may include oneor more integrated circuits, microchips, microcontrollers,microprocessors, all or part of a central processing unit (CPU),graphics processing unit (GPU), digital signal processor (DSP),field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or other circuit suitable forexecuting instructions or performing logic operations. The at least oneprocessor may be configured to communicate with electronic components(e.g., a modem) within the bonding device and to control at least one ofthe components.

In some embodiments, instructions executed by processors 212 and 292 maybe pre-loaded into a memory unit integrated with or embedded intoprocessors 212 and 292, or stored in a separate memory unit havingerasable and/or non-erasable memory banks, such as a RAM, a ROM, or ahard disk. In the alternative, the instructions executed by processors212 and 292 may be received from a separate device (e.g., computingdevice 207). While, for ease of illustration, FIG. 2 illustrates asingle processor per bonding device, it should be understood that,consistent with embodiments of the disclosure, functionality may occurin a single processor or may be split among multiple processors.

In some embodiments, the at least one processor (e.g., processor 212 andprocessor 292) can control any number of modems, and the number ofmodems may vary over time. The term “control a number of modems” as usedherein refers to any relationship, linkage, or action between at leastone processor and the modem(s) (e.g., wireless modems) for facilitatingcontrol or a transfer of data. For example, the at least one processormay control a modem if it is enabled to perform a handshake with themodem to enable transmission of data streams, traffic, packets,network-related information, etc. In FIG. 2, processor 212 controls aplurality of first wireless modems, for example, modem 223, modem 226,and modem 229. Whereas, processor 292 controls at least one secondwireless modem, for example, modem 283, modem 286, and modem 289.

In some embodiments the bonding device may include modem managers. Forexample, first bonding device 210 includes modem mangers 215, and secondbonding device 290 includes modem mangers 295. The modem managers mayinclude hardware, software, or both. The modem managers may manage thetransmission or reception of the plurality of data streams over the atleast one wireless communications network modem, which may be externalto the bonding device itself. The number of modem managers does not haveto be the same as the number of actual modems. Therefore, for example,bonding device 210 may include special-purpose, dedicated hardwarecircuits for channel bonding, or it may perform the bonding functionsdescribed herein using standard hardware components under the control ofsoftware for this purpose. Bonding device 210 may also use a combinationof standard and special-purpose hardware and software components. Asdiscussed above, the bonding device may be a general purpose device(e.g., a smartphone, a tablet) running a bonding software (e.g., abonding application). In this case the modem manager can be part of thebonding software that performs the functions described herein.

In some embodiments first bonding device 210 can communicate with anInternet server or with second bonding device 290 via a plurality ofparallel data channels. The term “data channels” (also referred toherein as “links”) refers to any paths between two components or nodesin which data streams, datagrams, or packets may be relayed (transmittedor received). For example, a smartphone may include a cellular modem anda WiFi modem. In some cases, the WiFi modem may be tethered to anothercellular device (e.g., a MiFi or another smartphone acting as a WiFiAccess Point). In this case, the two bonded channels may be cellular. Inthe example illustrated in FIG. 2, each bonding device may control aplurality of modems, so that the communication between the two bondingdevices can take place via a plurality of parallel data channels.Specifically, first bonding device 210 may communicate via four datachannels (three wireless data channels 232, 236, and 238, and one wireddata channel 234). Second bonding device 290 may also communicate viafour data channels (three wireless data channels 272, 276, 278, and onewired data channel 274).

In some embodiments the plurality of parallel data channels may beassociated with at least one communications network. The term“communication network” refers to any network enabling two nodes tocommunicate. The at least one communications network may include anynetwork technology, standard, or network operator used to transmit orreceive data between the two nodes. The at least one communicationsnetwork can include wireline-based networks, such as: xDSL, cable modem,fiber optics, LAN, Ethernet, etc.

In some embodiments, the at least one communications network may includeone or more wireless networks that can use different technologies andstandards. For example, the at least one communications network mayinclude different types of cellular networks (e.g., network 249, network269) such as: GSM, CDMA, 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 4G, LTE, LTE-Advanced, publicsafety LTE, and Operator X network; different types of satellitenetworks (e.g., network 243, network 263) such as: Broadband Global AreaNetwork (BGAN), a Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) Network, a Satcomnetwork, a Satcom-on-the-move (SOTM) network, a Fixed Satellite Services(FSS) network, a Mobile Satellite Services network (MSS), ageostationary-based satellite network, a low Earth Orbits (LEO) network,a Molniya orbits-based satellite network, and any custom/proprietarysatellite network; and different types other wireless network (e.g.,network 246, network 266), such as: WiFi, Wimax, Wibro, Point-to-Pointmicrowave, proprietary network, COFDM networks, mesh networks, ad-hocnetworks, Zigbee, Bluetooth, UWB, NFC and others.

As mentioned above, bonding devices can facilitate a media transmissionover at least one wireless communications network. The term “mediatransmission” includes transmission of any data that may include videoor a portion thereof. The data may be received in an digital form (e.g.,SDI, HDMI, h.264, h.265, JPEG-2000, AVC, AAC, AC-3, AMR, LPCM, ADPCM,FFmpeg, PDM, ALAC, or others), or in an analog form (e.g., composite,component, RCA, or others). The data may include a live video, anear-live video, or a pre-recorded/processed video. The term “livevideo” may include a video received from a source (e.g., camera, videorecorder, IP video stream) and transmitted with the intention ofminimizing delay in the transmission, in accordance with transmissionconditions and required performance. Thus, a “live” transmissionencompasses levels of delay that customarily exist in in live broadcastvideo transmissions. Customary delays in “live video” may occur as theresult of video encoding processing time, a modem internal buffer,internal device processes, network schedule timing, etc. The term“near-live video” refers to a transmission in which the userrequirements and/or the network conditions do not allow livetransmission. For example, if the transmitting device is in an area ofpoor coverage.

In some embodiments each of the first and second bonding devicesincludes a processor configured to receive network-related informationfrom a network device (e.g., network component 252). The term“network-related information” refers to any data and/or instructionsassociated with the condition of at least one communication network, orthe condition of at least one connection (e.g., modem) supported by theat least one communication network. The network-related information maybe received from a network component or from another source (such asprior knowledge or configuration information). The network-relatedinformation may include substantially real-time information thatreflects a current state or upcoming state or a terminating state of atleast one data channel from the plurality of parallel data channels.Alternatively, the network-related information may include staticinformation, near-real-time information, or off-line information.Network bonding manager 250, which can be part of the application layer,may use this network-related information to enhance and improve thebonding and QoS. In one example, information received from one or morebase stations may contain data related to bandwidth available to firstbonding device 210 (e.g., current uplink, max uplink, and/or downlinkbandwidth available for each modem).

The network-related information may be reflective of network conditionsthat influence a capacity of at least one of the plurality of datachannels. For example, the network-related information may includelatency-related information, error-rate-related information,location-related information, RF-related information, modulation-relatedinformation, barrier-related information, number of users served,planned handover timing, information related to the capabilities ofusers attempting to connect, information related to load on accesschannels, access-related information (e.g., the number of accessattempts or the time to access), congestion-related information,QoS-related information, neighboring cells statistics, etc. In someembodiments the network-related information may be reflective of networkconditions that influence performances of at least one of the pluralityof first wireless modems. In some cases a portion of the network-relatedinformation may be received from the modem itself, and a differentportion of the network-related information may be received from one ormore network components.

In some embodiments the network-related information may be transmittedto the bonding devices from a network component configured to facilitatea media transmission over at least one wireless communications network.The term “network component” as used herein refers to any element of anetwork, whether software hardware or any combination thereof, includinga dynamic network component or a network component placed within theend-user device. For example, network component 252 may include basestations, gateways, modems, chipsets, communication processors, identitycards (e.g., SIM), and so forth. Network component 252 may manage atleast a portion of the traffic passed in the network, or manage at leasta portion of the operation of the network. For example, a networkcomponent may be an element in a network router, gateway, server, basestation, Access Point, RAN node, eNode, RNC, xGSN, xMSC, HLR, VLR,End-User (EU) device, L2 and PHY processor and/or manager, xSIMprocessor, etc. Network component 252 may communicate with a bondingclient 255, which may be implemented within network component 252.Bonding client 255 may alternatively be a software client residing nextto components of the networks, for example, at edges or centrallocations. Additionally or alternatively, network component 252 maycommunicate with network bonding manager 250 via link 251. Additionallyor alternatively, network component 252 may communicate directly withfirst bonding device 210 using network 249, and with second bondingdevice 290 using network 269.

Network component 252 may be located intermediate a first end node ofthe media transmission side (e.g., first bonding device 210) and asecond end node of the media transmission side (e.g., second bondingdevice 290). The term “located intermediate” as used herein means thatthe network component 252 may have a physical location or MAC addressdiscrete, or distinguishably separated, from the first end node and thesecond end node. In some embodiments network component 252 may also bephysically co-located with any of the said bonding devices or componentsas well, in part or in full, but distinguishably separated from thebonding device (e.g., having different MAC address). The mediatransmission side may include a plurality of first wireless modems andthe media reception side may include at least one second wireless modem,such that a plurality of parallel wireless data channels extend betweenand connect the plurality of first wireless modems with the at least onesecond wireless modem. In addition, network component 252 may include aprocessor configured to retrieve network-related information from atleast one wireless communications network element.

In some embodiments, network component 252 may transmit network-relatedinformation to the media transmission side to cause a redistribution ofa plurality of data streams or substreams or individual packets handledby at least some of the plurality of first wireless modems. In addition,network component 252 may transmit network-related information to themedia reception side to adjust the receipt of the plurality of datastreams at the plurality of second wireless modems. In otherembodiments, network component 252 may receive performance-relatedinformation from either the media transmission side or the mediareception side. Network component 252 may use the performance-relatedinformation to make a determination when managing network resources ofthe at least one wireless communications network.

Network component 252 may communicate directly with the bonding devicesor with network bonding manager 250. The term “network bonding manager”refers to an entity that can use the network-related information andmake decisions that affect the distribution or the receipt of theplurality of data streams associated with the media transmission.Network bonding manager 250 may reside, for example, in the cloud, inthe bonding devices (e.g., first bonding device 210 and/or secondbonding device 290), or in a network device (e.g., network component252). For example, when network bonding manager 250 resides in firstbonding device 210, it may use network-related information to adjust thetransmission of the plurality of data streams from the plurality offirst wireless modems (e.g., 223, 226, and 229). When network bondingmanager 250 resides in second bonding device 290, it may usenetwork-related information to adjust the receipt of the plurality ofdata streams at the plurality of second wireless modems (e.g., 283, 286,and 289).

In some embodiments network bonding manager 250 can decide based on thenetwork-related information how to improve performance of the bondingdevices. The decisions made by network bonding manager 250 may impactboth the performances of the bonding devices and potentially the networkresources utilization and performance of other wireless devices servedby network bonding manager 250. Therefore, network bonding manager 250may provide information related to certain of its decisions to othernetwork elements, servers, applications, cellular operator's HomeLocation Register (HLR), base stations, etc. In addition oralternatively, network bonding manager 250 may send to the networkperformance-related information to enable a determination to be madeabout managing at least some of the network resources of the at leastone wireless communications network.

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of the communication paths, accordingto a second embodiment, in which network bonding manager 250 resides inan end-user device. Specifically, FIG. 3 depicts an embodiment in whichone network bonding manager 250 resides in first bonding device 210, anda second network bonding manager 250 resides in second bonding device290. Accordingly, network bonding manager 250 is configured to make adetermination about adjusting the distribution (or receipt) of theplurality of data streams based on the network-related information ithad received from network component 252. Network bonding manager 250 mayreceive the network-related information directly via network 269, or viathe Internet.

In some embodiments, network bonding manager 250 may consider thenetwork-related information received from network component 252 in orderto make certain decisions. For example, the network-related informationmay indicate that the total available bandwidth in a specific basestation currently serving the bonding device's modems is limited to X1;or that the available bandwidth for one of such modems is X2; or thatthe current modulation being used by a certain modem is Q1; or that ahandover is expected in S1 time; or that a handover has just ended; orthat a handover is expected to take place in T1 duration; or thatbarrier is changed or allocated to be B1, etc. Network bonding manager250 may use this information to guide the bonding devices in takingactions. For example, network bonding manager 250 may inform the bondingdevices to use modem M1 up to R1 bandwidth at the moment, or to stopusing it altogether, or to use modem M1 for certain level or types ofpackets (e.g., lower priority ones).

In some embodiments, network bonding manager 250 may decide to adjustthe distribution of the plurality of data streams. Adjusting thedistribution of the plurality of data streams may include at least oneof: transmitting fewer data streams from some of the plurality of firstwireless modems and transmitting more data streams from others of theplurality of first wireless modems, ceasing the transmission of datastreams from some of the plurality of first wireless modems for a periodof time, starting the transmission of data streams from some of theplurality of first wireless modems, changing an encoding of some datastreams, changing a Forward Error Correction (FEC) of some data streams.For example, instead of transmitting from a specific modem packets thatmay not arrive (e.g., due to high error rate), first bonding device 210may transmit fewer packets from the specific modem.

In addition network bonding manager 250 may instruct first bondingdevice 210 to tune its video encoder, based on the network-relatedinformation. For example, when some of the modems of first bondingdevice 210 are expected to have more bandwidth, bonding device 210 maychange its encoding and transmission performance using a predictivealgorithm. In this way the quality of the media transmitted may improve.In some embodiments, the video encoder output may be increased ordecreased in fewer steps and shorter interim adjusting and measurementsperiods. Therefore, the allocation of the plurality of data streams tothe various available modems may be performed more quickly and moreaccurately. Such adjustment may be done in advance, e.g., before a datastream is first allocated to a modem, or as a readjustment so thatpackets waiting to be transmitted by a certain modem manager may beredistributed to another.

In one embodiment, first bonding device 210 may be a smartphone thatruns a bonding software application, and has one cellular modem and oneWiFi modem. For example, first bonding device 210 may receive a streamof packets over its own cellular modem and its own WiFi modem accordingto their momentary capacity, and the performances of other modems andconnections on the sending side (e.g. a cellular operator, a videopublisher such as YouTube™, a CDN, an ISP, an OTT or internet TV-likeoperator). The combined stream of packet may be reassembled to a singlecoherent media stream for consumption. At any point in time, the servingnetwork operators may provide network-related information (either “push”or “pull”) to network bonding manager 250. Again, network bondingmanager 250 may reside in first bonding device 210 (e.g., thesmartphone), in network component 252, or in the cloud. In this manner,network bonding manager 250 may better predict the potential performanceon each of the two modems and the two networks. Network bonding manager250 may then guide first bonding device 210 to offload packets from onenetwork to the other in a certain degree, or to change otherperformance-related metrics, such as the video encoding rate, FECtransmission, etc.

In embodiments in which first bonding device 210 is implemented using asmartphone, the device may include pre-installed bonding software (e.g.,LU-Smart mobile app by LiveU Corporation). The bonding software mayinstruct at least one processor of first bonding device 210 to split adata stream into several portions, such that each portion will betransmitted concurrently (or substantially concurrently) via differingwireless communication routes. In the example illustrated in FIG. 3,first bonding device 210 splits the raw data stream into three portionsand uses the combination of modems 223, 226, and 229 as a virtualbroadband upload connection. The first portion is transmitted viacellular network 249; the second portion is concurrently transmitted viaa second cellular network 249′; and, the third portion is concurrentlytransmitted via wireless network 246 (e.g., WiFi). All three portions ofthe data stream may be transmitted via the Internet to second bondingdevice 290, which can reconstruct the three portions into a coherentdata stream. In one embodiment the first portion of data stream mayinclude copies of data packets also included in the second portion ofdata stream. For example, if second cellular network 249′ has a higherror rate, bonding device 210 may transmit via cellular network 249copies of some of the data packets included in the second portiontransmitted via second cellular network 249′.

In some cases, first bonding device 210 may load balance outgoing datastreams to ensure timely reconstruction at a receiving location. Forexample, the processor of first bonding device 210 may inequitablydistribute the portions of the data stream, e.g., such that the firstportion may be larger than the second portion. For example, thepre-installed bonding software may inequitably distribute the portionsof the data stream when the at least one performance factor of the firstwireless communication route is higher than the correspondingperformance factor of the second wireless communication route. The atleast one performance factor may include a combination of one or more ofthe following: bandwidth, modem speed, modem reliability, operatinglicense limitations, network congestion, modem error rate, andconnection quality.

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of the communication paths betweenfirst bonding device 210 and second bonding device 290, according to athird embodiment in which first bonding device 210 includes two WiFimodems and one satellite modem. Specifically, FIG. 4 depicts anembodiment in which bonding device 210 is used for transmitting a livehigh-quality video. For some applications, the transmission of livehigh-quality video may require a certain bandwidth, latency, error rate,and a minimal jitter.

At the beginning of the transmission, network bonding manager 250 mayquery for information from the wireless operators that serve the area inwhich first bonding device 210 is located. Such information may includedata related to the general service characteristics at that time andlocation, e.g., the uplink bandwidth currently available to modems 223,226, and 229. Alternatively, the information may be modem specific, suchas the bandwidth available to a certain modem, the modem transmissionpower, the modem reception of neighboring base stations. It is notedthat even two modems getting service from the same wireless carrier mayexperience different service. Such differences may be caused, e.g., bydifferent angles or RF properties for each of the modems at that pointin time, resulting in each of them getting service from another sectoror another base station in the network.

In some embodiments, first bonding device 210 may be involved with ahandover of one of its modems, network bonding manager 250 may receivenetwork-related information about a predicted handover and guide firstbonding device 210 to reduce the load put on that modem. Network bondingmanager 250 may instruct the bonding devices to reduce the usage of thatmodem or even stop using it altogether. For example, network bondingmanager 250 may instruct the bonding devices to keep the load in acertain modem below B1 bandwidth from time T1 to T2, with or withoutmargins, due to an upcoming handoff. In other embodiments, the decisionmay be made directly by first bonding device 210 based on rawnetwork-related information received directly from network component 252or network-related instructions from network bonding manager 250. Thenetwork-related information may be used to allocate more suitablevirtual SIMs. For example, if first bonding device 210 (or networkbonding manager 250) calculates and predicts that the performance of oneof modems 223, 226, and 229 is expected to degrade (e.g., due to anupcoming handover into a cell that is already quite busy and has notsufficient uplink bandwidth available), then it may request to allocateanother VSIM for that modem. The same may happen without movement offirst bonding device 210, e.g., where the serving base station ornetwork becomes congested due to other reasons.

The use of network-related information by first bonding device 210 (ornetwork bonding manager 250) as part of its decisions making may alsoimpact the networks and the overall resources allocation, including basestation power consumption, subsequent air-conditioning, etc. Thedecisions made based on the network-related information may minimizevoid or less efficient transmissions by modems 223, 226, and 229;prevent multi retransmissions; avoid transmissions of data that mightnot be properly fulfilled; or reduce noise levels experienced by otherdevices. Further, the decisions made based on the network-relatedinformation may cause other devices to make fewer attempts to access thenetwork. In this manner, the decisions can increase their users'experience, including by increasing battery time and applicationsperformance.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of an exemplary method 500 for enhanced bondingand network utilization using interaction between a bonding applicationand a network device, consistent with embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

In step 510 a bonding element (e.g., first bonding device 210, secondbonding device 290, and network bonding manager 250) hosting the bondingapplication gathers data from various wireless network elements (such asbase stations, RAN, WiFi Access Points, modem MAC/Phy layers). Thebonding application may be in the cloud, in network bonding manager 250,in the bonding devices, and/or in a network component. The bondingelement may gather the network-related information in an interrupt,unsolicited period, occasionally per event modes, and/or per requestmode.

In addition, the bonding element may decide to trigger an inquiry forinformation from a specific network element or from a plurality ofnetwork elements. In one example, a bonding element that experiences achange in the performance of one of the modems (e.g., a sudden drop inbandwidth, an increase in error rate, or increase in latency) maytrigger a request for information needed to understand whether thischange can be explained by an occurrence at theinfrastructure/networking level, and can therefore be mitigated.

In step 520 the bonding element processes the network-relatedinformation and evaluates its impact on the bonding. The bonding elementmay use the network-related information to optimize the transceiving ofdata streams. The following two examples show how the network-relatedinformation may be used by the at least one processor to determine howto split the raw data stream over the different modems.

In the first example, the network-related information received from thenetwork component includes information that reflects a networkcongestion state. A network congestion state (or simply, congestion) isa situation where the network resources may be significantlyover-burdened. Such situations might occur due to various reasons, forexample, a surge in call attempts, a very large data trafficking,insufficient initial resource allocation, deficient network managementplanning, a malfunction, and/or malicious attack. Based on theinformation that reflects a network congestion state or an anticipatedcongestion state or a terminating state, the at least one processor maydetermine which network to use, and in what capacity. For example, theat least one processor may determine to shift data from a cellularnetwork that is experiencing congestion to a WiFi network.

The information that reflects a network congestion state may includemeasured uplink data bandwidth, measured uplink data latency, measureddownlink data bandwidth, measured downlink data latency, measured uplinkround trip time, measured downlink round trip time, uplink packet lossrate, downlink packet loss rate, network component state, and/or othernetwork initiated congestion indications. In addition or alternatively,the information that reflects a network congestion state may includeCongestion Experienced (CE) codepoint (‘11’) in PDCP SDUs in thedownlink direction to indicate downlink (radio) congestion. If thosePDCP SDUs have one of the two ECN-Capable Transport (ECT) codepointsset, the Congestion Experienced (CE) codepoint (‘11’) in PDCP SDUs inthe uplink direction may indicate that uplink (radio) congestion ifthose PDCP SDUs have one of the two ECN-Capable Transport (ECT)codepoints set.

In the second example, the network-related information received from thenetwork component includes handover-related information that enables thebonding element to identify a handover of a specific modem. Based on thehandover-related information, the at least one processor may determineand evaluate how the handover (e.g., an expected handover, an ongoinghandover, or a finished handover) may impact the transmission or receiptof the data streams. In one instance, first bonding device 210 maytransmit using at least a first wireless network (e.g., a cellularnetwork) and a second wireless network (e.g., WLAN), such that some ofthe plurality of parallel wireless data channels are associated with thefirst wireless network and others of the plurality of parallel wirelessdata channels are associated with the second wireless network. In thatcase, the network-related information may include information related toa handover of one or more modems associated with the first wirelessnetwork. First bonding device 210 may use the network-relatedinformation to redistribute the plurality of data streams bytransmitting more data streams via data channels associated with thesecond wireless network and transmitting fewer data streams via datachannels associated with the first wireless network. The redistributionof the plurality of data streams may result in fewer packets lost, fewerretransmissions, and/or fewer network resources being allocated andused. The redistribution of the plurality of data streams may beexpressed in lower power consumption, in lower communication cost, inimproved QoS and/or application performance (such as lower latency orcontent quality).

In step 530 the bonding element (e.g., first bonding device 210, secondbonding device 290, and network bonding manager 250) determinesbonding-related decisions, for example, decisions about transmissionoptimization and different settings (e.g., how to adjust the overalltraffic generation by reducing a video encoder output bandwidth). Insome embodiments, transmission optimization may be done by reducing theusage of certain connections, modems or operators due to informationabout their performance. The transmission optimization may be at theperformance level, at the cost level, or at the user experience level,and could be done from either the bonding devices perspective, from thenetwork operator perspective, or both. For example, the bonding elementmay determine to stop using a specific data channel because another datachannel is expected to enable more traffic.

Step 540 is an optional step. In step 540 the bonding element mayprovide to the network component performance-related informationregarding the at least one wireless communications network. The term“performance-related information” refers to information collected by abonding element. The performance-related information may be measured andreflective of performances of at least one wireless communicationsnetwork. Such performance may be measured at the application level,and/or the bonding management level. For example, the performance may bemeasured using one or more of the following parameters: bandwidth,goodput, latency, error rates, lost packets, jittery behavior, andbehavior over time. For example, the performance-related information maybe based on measurements associated with the performance of one or moreof the connections, modems, technologies or operators. Theperformance-related information may be represented by single parameter,statistical, accumulated, sporadic, momentary, and/or averagedinformation, etc. In addition, the performance-related information mayinclude bandwidth requirements, experienced bandwidth, and/orcongestion-related information that may assist the at least one wirelesscommunications network to manage a state of congestion.

Step 550, which is also optional, includes sending theperformance-related information to network devices (e.g., networkcomponent 252). In some embodiments, first bonding device 210 mayforward network component 252 information about the measured performanceof a WiFi connection currently available to first bonding device 210, inparticular in the case that such connection belongs to or is associatedwith the same or affiliated cellular operator. The performance-relatedinformation may enable a determination to be made about managing networkresources of at least one wireless communications network. Thedetermination may include at least one of: managing data, wirelessoffloading, improving resource utilization, reducing power consumption,reducing cost, and increasing wireless handover efficiency. Thedetermination may affect either the network components and/or operator;the end-device, application and/or user; and/or a multiplicity of otherusers, devices or applications served by the same or impacted resources;or any combination thereof.

In some embodiments, the determination may be based on theperformance-related information of the relevant communication channels(e.g., in real time and/or statistical parameters measurements andcalculations). In such embodiments, the network devices may rely on realdata from the real devices also pertaining to the application level,such as parameters of the application-experienced bandwidth, goodput,jittery behavior, latency, etc. Therefore, such decisions may optimizeor improve QoS for one or more channel, device, application or user (oneor more of each), local or overall network performance (such as thelocal or overall utilization of base stations, backhaul or otherinfrastructure resources, power consumption, bandwidth, etc), cost, etc.Further, the performance-related information may be collected or furtherdelivered by network component 252 (or others) for offline/online (realtime) analysis, ongoing abnormalities, ongoing fault analysis and/oridentification, pattern identification, user and/or applications patternand behavior studies, network adaptations, parameters adaptations,network planning or optimization, etc.

For example, assume that the at least one wireless communicationsnetwork includes at least a first wireless network and a second wirelessnetwork, such that some of the plurality of parallel wireless datachannels are associated with the first wireless network and others ofthe plurality of parallel wireless data channels are associated with thesecond wireless network. In this case the determination about managingnetwork resources may include offloading at least some of the pluralityof data streams from the first wireless network to the second wirelessnetwork when the performance-related information associated with thesecond wireless network indicates that the second wireless networkcurrently has satisfactory performance. Specifically, following theexample illustrated in FIG. 2, the performance-related information maybe used by a network device in deciding whether to instruct firstbonding device 210 to offload part of the traffic from cellular network249 to WiFi network 246. The performance-related information may also beused by the network to similarly decide for other devices, not relatedto first bonding device 210. For example, network component 252 may usereal time measurements from first bonding device 210 to manage theservice of regular cellular users in that area.

According to other embodiments a communications device (for example, abonding device) that can assist managing at least one wirelesscommunications network is provided. The communications device isconfigured to manage distribution (or receipt) of a plurality of datastreams over a plurality of parallel data channels. The bonding devicemay cause performance-related information to be sent to a networkcomponent (e.g., network component 252), thereby enabling adetermination to be made about managing network resources of the atleast one wireless communications network, based on theperformance-related information.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for assisting inmanaging at least one wireless communications network, according to someembodiments of the disclosure. Step 610 includes providing a pluralityof first wireless modems on a first end node side of the at least onewireless communications network. The plurality of first wireless modemscan communicate via a plurality of parallel wireless data channels withat least one second wireless modem associated with a second end nodeside of the at least one wireless communications network. Step 620includes managing at least one of distribution and receipt of aplurality of data streams over the plurality of parallel data channels.The media transmission, which may be transmitted or received by thebonding device, comprises an aggregate of the separated plurality ofdata streams. Step 630 includes sending performance-related informationto a network component. The network component may be located on thedata/command protocol path, proxy of the first end node and/or proxy ofthe second end node, but separated from the first end node and thesecond end node. Step 640 includes enabling a determination to be madeabout managing network resources of the at least one wirelesscommunications network, wherein the determination is based on theperformance-related information.

In some embodiments, the bonding device (or network bonding manager 250)may provide information to network elements regarding the actualperformance experienced by a certain modem, for example, the actualbandwidth it currently sees, the latency, and/or the error rates. Thisperformance-related information may then be used by the network elementsas input to its PHY, L2, or network level decisions. For example, thenetwork may allow more or fewer modems into a cell served by a basestation, reduce or increase the allocated bandwidth to a group ofmodems, and/or initiate a forced handover to move certain modems toother cells where a better performance may be experienced. In additionor alternatively, the network may use the performance-relatedinformation to offload traffic from some of the modems by changingtechnologies (e.g., from LTE to 3G) and/or networks (e.g., from LTE toWiFi or Wibro). The performance-related information may reflect theactual information experienced by first bonding device 210. In someembodiments, network bonding manager 250 may facilitate artificialintelligence or machine learning, to improve later recommendations anddecisions.

In some embodiments the network elements may use the performance-relatedinformation (e.g., application level and/or bonding level informationand parameters) it receives for various other tasks, such as: learningtime and/or location-related patterns, user-related patterns,application-related patterns, and/or abnormalities analysis. Doing soenables real time or offline corrections to be made. Theperformance-related information may also be used for network planning,statistical analysis, power consumption planning and analyzing, etc.

In some embodiments, first bonding device 210 may be implemented by asmartphone that runs bonding software and has one cellular modem and oneWiFi modem available to it. At any point in time, the serving operatorsmay provide network-related information (either “push” and/or “pull”) tonetwork bonding manager 250. Network bonding manager 250 may in turnprovide performance-related information to the cellular and/or the WiFinetwork regarding the actually experienced performance by the modems inthat certain location and time. The network may use the receivedinformation in various roaming and offloading applications to provide amore seamless and continuous service with a better quality of experienceto the user. These roaming and offloading applications may consideractual application-level experience, measurements and requests, whilealso relying on actual information pertaining to the performance inother networks.

In another example, the roaming and offloading applications may includeheterogeneous network (hetnet) and roaming between commercial anddedicated-networks, such as in the planned USA FirstNet public safetycommunication network. A hetnet is a network consisting of multiplecells with different characteristics. The main intention of suchnetworks is that the low power nodes or small cells can be overlaid ontop of the macro cells, and then can offload the macro cells and improveindoor and cell edge performance.

The bonding device (e.g., first bonding device 210) can assistoffloading in such hetnet deployments (e.g., simultaneous usage ofmultiple nodes using multiple modems in the device). For example, thefollowing information may be used: the exchange of wireless network,nodes, connectivity, state (e.g., handover), bandwidth (e.g., availablebackhaul), and monitored performance (e.g., as measured by bondingdevice) between the end-user devices or third party cloud-basedapplications and the network elements. Such information may be availableto end-user devices, or cloud applications, and their application levelsoftware. In addition, the performance-related information, which can beused by the elements, may include information monitored in real time orstatistical information from the end-user devices.

In other embodiments, first bonding device 210 (or network bondingmanager 250) may also assist the at least one communications network toidentify and handle network congestion. For example, during a suddenevent (such as a terror attack or an earthquake), a large number ofpeople in the area of a certain base station may attempt to access thenetwork over the Random Access Channel (RACH), more or less at the sametime, thus creating collisions, backing-off, and reattempting.Therefore, in times of congestion it may be highly desirable to allowcommunication of one device while preventing, or even disconnectinganother device. For example, in a terror attack, first responders mayneed to get service over a commercially available network, even at theexpense of other customers. In addition, first bonding device 210 mayuse information from the at least one communications network (e.g., thelocation of the user or Cell ID) to include low volume “emergency”signaling. For example, first bonding device 210 may use a low bandwidthcommunication method over the data channels to inform the service of itsoperational status or other information.

In some cases network congestion may occur on any of the networkresources. For example, network congestion may occur on the cellularsignaling channels (on which SMSs are being exchanged), on the RACH, onthe base stations backhaul, on the internal or external backbones, onother infrastructure channels. In some embodiments, first bonding device210 (or network bonding manager 250) may identify the network congestionby using congestion indications, e.g., Explicit Congestion Notification(ECN) in LTE. Alternatively, first bonding device 210 (or networkbonding manager 250) may identify congestion using indirect informationextracted from the network (e.g., network-related information), and actaccordingly. For example, first bonding device 210 may avoid using thatnetwork altogether, and network bonding manager 250 may instruct one ormore bonding devices being served by the same base station to stop usingthat network. Thereby, the overall utilization for all devices may beimproved.

In other embodiments, when network congestion is identified, firstbonding device 210 (or network bonding manager 250) may instruct the atleast one communications network to resolve the congestion. For example,network bonding manager 250 may instruct the at least one communicationsnetwork to change its transmitted system ID to a new ID. Doing so maythrow out served or attempting devices, clear the RACH and datachannels, and allow only devices that still have the new system ID as apotential System ID in their database to connect. Such devices maybelong to special customers, to first responders, etc. In a differentembodiment, first bonding device 210 may instruct the network to providepower reports that over-report the received power so that other modems,receiving service from the same base station, would believe theirtransmission to be too strong and thus lower their transmission power,which may reduce the overall noise and interferences.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of an exemplary method of connecting UserEquipment (UE) to the at least one communication network. The at leastone communications network (e.g., cellular network 249) may include abonding client element (e.g., bonding client 255) configured to enabletransmit/receive notification to/from the UE (e.g., first bonding device210).

In step 710 the UE sends preamble sequence to the bonding client. The UEgives its own identity to the network so that the network can address itin next step. The identity which UE will use may be called RA-RNTI(Random Access Radio Network Temporary Identity). The RA-RNTI may bedetermined from the time slot number in which the preamble is sent. Ifthe UE does not receive any response from the network, it may increaseits power in fixed steps and send the preamble again.

In step 720 the bonding client sends “Random Access Response” to UE onDL-SCH (Downlink Shared Channel) addressed to RA-RNTI, calculated fromthe timeslot in which preamble was sent. The message may carry thefollowing information: a cell radio network temporary identity (C-RNTI)for further communication, change in the timing (Timing Advance Value)for enabling the UE to compensate for the round trip delay caused by UEdistance from the bonding client, and/or assignment of initial resourceto UE (Uplink Grant Resource), so that it can use the uplink sharedchannel.

In step 730 the UE sends a message requesting to connect to the networkassociated with the bonding client. The message may contain the UEidentity and connection establishment cause, which may indicate thereason why the UE needs to connect to the network. In step 740 thebonding client may respond with a contention resolution message to UE,informing that the message was successfully received in step 730. Thismessage may contain a new C-RNTI which may be used for furthercommunications.

The foregoing description has been presented for purposes ofillustration. It is not exhaustive and is not limited to the preciseforms or embodiments disclosed. Modifications and adaptations will beapparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of thespecification and practice of the disclosed embodiments. Additionally,although aspects of the disclosed embodiments are described as beingstored in memory, one skilled in the art will appreciate that theseaspects can also be stored on other types of computer readable media,such as secondary storage devices, for example, hard disks, floppydisks, or CD ROM, or other forms of RAM or ROM, USB media, DVD, or otheroptical drive media.

Computer programs based on the written description and disclosed methodsare within the skill of an experienced developer. The various programsor program modules can be created using any of the techniques known toone skilled in the art or can be designed in connection with existingsoftware. For example, program sections or program modules can bedesigned in or by means of .Net Framework, .Net Compact Framework (andrelated languages, such as Visual Basic, C), Java, C++, Objective-C,HTML, HTML/AJAX combinations, XML, or HTML with included Java applets.One or more of such software sections or modules may be integrated intoa computer system or existing e-mail or browser software.

Moreover, while illustrative embodiments have been described herein, thescope of any and all embodiments includes equivalent elements,modifications, omissions, combinations (e.g., of aspects across variousembodiments), adaptations and/or alterations as would be appreciated bythose skilled in the art based on the present disclosure. Thelimitations in the claims are to be interpreted broadly based on thelanguage employed in the claims and not limited to examples described inthe present specification or during the prosecution of the application.The examples are to be construed as non-exclusive. Furthermore, thesteps of the disclosed routines may be modified in any manner, includingby reordering steps and/or inserting or deleting steps. It is intended,therefore, that the specification and examples be considered asillustrative only, with a true scope and spirit being indicated by thefollowing claims and their full scope of equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A network management system configured tofacilitate a data transmission over at least two wireless communicationsnetworks, including at least a first network and a second network, thesystem comprising: a network device located intermediate a first endnode on a data transmission side and a second end node on a datareception side, wherein the network device is configured to manage atleast a portion of an operation of a communications network, wherein thedata transmission side is associated with a plurality of wireless modemsassociated with the at least two wireless communications networks andthe data reception side is associated with at least one third IPnetwork, and wherein the at least two wireless communications networksinclude a plurality of wireless data channels for connecting theplurality of wireless modems with the at least one third IP network; andat least one processor located in either the first end node on the datatransmission side or in the second end node on the data reception side,wherein the at least one processor is configured to: receive informationregarding the first end node on the data transmission side from thenetwork device, wherein the information from the network device includesdata reflective of past or current network conditions that influence acurrent or future capacity of at least one of the plurality of wirelessdata channels, and wherein the information from the network device isreceived substantially simultaneously to the data transmission over theat least two wireless communications networks; and based on the receivedinformation from the network device, instruct the first end node toredistribute the plurality of data streams between the plurality ofwireless modems to improve the data transmission.
 2. The system of claim1, wherein the network device is configured to manage at least a portionof the operation of at least one of the first network, the secondnetwork, and the third IP network.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein thenetwork device is at least one of the following: an element in a networkrouter, an element in base station, an element in a Radio NetworkController (RNC), and RAN (Radio Access Network).
 4. The system of claim1, wherein the network device has a physical location distinguishablyseparated from the first end node and the second end node.
 5. The systemof claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured toreceive information regarding one of the plurality of wireless datachannels and to instruct the first end node to redistribute theplurality of data streams, based on the received information.
 6. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is furtherconfigured to predict performances of the at least two wirelesscommunications networks and to manage data offloading between the atleast two wireless communications networks based on the predictedperformances.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to instruct the first end node to adjustits video encoder based on the received information.
 8. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the received information includes data reflective ofperformance or a change in the performance of at least two of theplurality of wireless modems.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the atleast two of the plurality of wireless modems are associated with asingle wireless communications network.
 10. The system of claim 1,wherein the information from the network device includes data reflectiveof performances or a change in the performances of at least one of thefirst network, second network, and the third IP network.
 11. The systemof claim 1, wherein the information from the network device includesdata reflective of performances or a change in the performances of atleast two of the first network, second network, and the third IPnetwork.
 12. The system of claim 1, wherein the information from thenetwork device includes data reflective of a network congestion state ofat least one of the first network, second network, and the third IPnetwork.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein data reflective of anetwork congestion state include at least one of the following: measureduplink data bandwidth, measured uplink data latency, measured downlinkdata bandwidth, measured downlink data latency, measured uplink roundtrip time, measured downlink round trip time, PDCP SDU CongestionExperienced (CE) Codepoint or Codepoint set, and ECN-Capable Transport(ECT) codepoint or codepoint set.
 14. The system of claim 1, wherein theinformation from the network device includes data reflective of expectedbandwidth state of at least one of the first network, second network,and the third IP network.
 15. The system of claim 1, wherein theinformation from the network device includes data reflective of at leastone of expected handover state and expected handover timing of at leastone of the first network, second network, and the third IP network. 16.The system of claim 1, wherein the information from the network deviceincludes data reflective of expected degradation state of at least oneof the first network, second network, and the third IP network.
 17. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the information from the network deviceincludes data reflective of general service characteristics available ina modem other than the plurality of wireless modems.
 18. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the information from the network device includes dataabout a wireless local area network (WLAN), other than the first networkand the second network, that is available to first end node.
 19. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the information from the network deviceincludes at least one of: modulation-related information,barrier-related information, number of users served, information relatedto load on access channels, access-related information, and neighboringcells statistics.
 20. The system of claim 1, wherein the first networkis a first cellular network, the second network is a wireless local areanetwork (WLAN), and the third IP network is a wireline-based network.21. The system of claim 1, wherein the first network is a cellularnetwork, the second network is a wireless local area network (WLAN), andthe third IP network is a wireless network.
 22. The system of claim 1,wherein the data reception side includes a plurality of modemsassociated with the third IP network and at least one additionalwireless network.
 23. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of thefirst end node and the second end node is a smartphone or a mobilerouter.
 24. The system of claim 1, wherein some of the plurality ofwireless data channels are associated with the first network and othersof the plurality of wireless data channels are associated with thesecond network.
 25. The system of claim 1, wherein improving the datatransmission includes at least one of: managing data offloading betweenthe at least two wireless communications networks, improving resourcesutilization of at least one of the at least two wireless communicationsnetworks, increasing handover efficiency in at least one of the at leasttwo wireless communications networks.
 26. The system of claim 1, whereinimproving the data transmission includes improving power consumptionand/or bandwidth of at least one of the plurality of wireless modems.27. The system of claim 1, wherein improving the data transmissionincludes lowering costs associated with the data transmission.
 28. Asoftware product stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium andcomprising data and computer implementable instructions for carrying outa method for assisting management of a data transmission over at leasttwo wireless communications networks, including at least a first networkand a second network, the method configured to be executed by a networkdevice located intermediate a first end node on a data transmission sideand a second end node on a data reception side, wherein the networkdevice is configured to manage at least a portion of an operation of acommunications network, wherein the data transmission side is associatedwith a plurality of wireless modems associated with the at least twowireless communications networks and the data reception side isassociated with at least one third IP network, and wherein the at leasttwo wireless communications networks include a plurality of wirelessdata channels for connecting the plurality of wireless modems with theat least one third IP network, the method comprising: receivingperformance-related information regarding a first end node on the datatransmission side; receiving network-related information that reflects astate of at least one data channel from the plurality of wireless datachannels; and based on the received performance-related information andthe network-related information, lowering costs associated with the datatransmission by instructing the first end node to redistribute theplurality of data streams between the plurality of wireless modems. 29.A network management system configured to facilitate a data transmissionover at least two wireless communications networks, including at least afirst network and a second network, the system comprising: a networkdevice located intermediate a first end node on a data transmission sideand a second end node on a data reception side, wherein the networkdevice is configured to manage at least a portion of an operation of acommunications network, wherein a data transmission side includes afirst end node associated with a plurality of wireless modems associatedwith the at least two wireless communications networks and a datareception side includes a second end node associated with at least onethird IP network, and wherein the at least two wireless communicationsnetworks include a plurality of wireless data channels for connectingthe plurality of wireless modems with the at least one third IP network;and at least one processor located in either the first end node on thedata transmission side or in the second end node on the data receptionside, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: receiveinformation regarding the second end node from the network device,wherein the information includes data reflective of past or currentnetwork conditions that influence a current or future capacity of atleast one of the plurality of wireless data channels, and wherein theinformation from the network device is received substantiallysimultaneously to the data transmission over the at least two wirelesscommunications networks; and based on the received information, instructthe first end node to redistribute the plurality of data streams betweenthe plurality of wireless modems to improve the data transmission.